Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Policy Perspectives: When It Comes to Health Care, Why Is Compromise So Difficult?; Ideas On How To Move Forward

Opinion writers offer their thoughts on the outlook for the Obamacare fix advanced by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) as well as on President Donald Trump's recent executive order loosening some restrictions on health insurance and how Medicare prices can help advance efforts at reform.

Bloomberg:
Why There's No Compromise On Obamacare
Senators Alexander and Murray may well have tried and tried to devise a deal that gave both sides a real win. In health care, though, it is extremely hard to find one, because there is little overlap between liberal and conservative policy objectives. If you allow catastrophic plans, a lot of young and healthy people will choose them, and the comprehensive plans liberals prefer will have high premiums. So liberals see almost any step conservatives want to take as a way of undermining or unraveling Obamacare. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 10/19)

The Washington Post:
How Republicans Can Get Everyone To Stop Blaming Them
Republicans may have unified control of government, but they seem curiously incapable of getting major agenda items through. Maybe it’s because Republicans have insisted on cutting out Democrats and doing things unilaterally. Or at least they had been until Thursday, when a bipartisan coalition of 24 senators signed onto a bill to patch up Obamacare. While President Trump and congressional Republican leadership remain skeptical about working with the enemy, this could be the start of a turnaround for the GOP. To be clear, “bipartisan” ideas are not necessarily “good” ideas. Sometimes a policy that both parties support turns out to be a huge mistake. As a political matter, though, it can be extremely useful for the majority party to get buy-in from the other side, for three reasons. (Catherine Rampell, 10/19)

The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Lessons From The Latest ACA Battle
At the end of the 2017 Obamacare repeal-and-replace legislative battle (and before the next one begins), it is worth taking stock of why — defying the odds — the Affordable Care Act (ACA) still stands. From my perspective as an Obama administration veteran of every near-death experience of the law to date, this one is notable for its unlikely heroes. (Jeanne M. Lambrew, 10/18)

The Columbus Dispatch:
Breaking The Gridlock On Obamacare
For seven years, congressional Republicans and Democrats battling over Obamacare have agreed on only one thing: They couldn’t agree on anything. As more Americans dropped or skipped coverage because of soaring premiums, lawmakers of the two parties couldn’t — wouldn’t — agree on how to fix the 2010 law. (10/20)

The Wall Street Journal:
The Limits Of Trump’s Health-Care Order
Give President Trump an A for effort with his latest executive order, which tries to expand health-insurance options for individuals battered by exploding premiums and fleeing insurers. At least somebody is trying to do something after congressional Republicans failed to repeal and replace ObamaCare. While the executive order represents progress, Congress still needs to act. (Merrill Matthews, 10/19)

The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Strengthening The ACA For The Long Term
Most complaints about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (e.g., high and rising insurance premiums, large deductibles, and insurer exits) relate to nongroup insurance markets. These markets, the ones that were the most dysfunctional before the ACA, provide coverage to just 7% of the nonelderly population (under 65 years of age) and 6% of the full U.S. population. The ACA’s changes to employer-sponsored insurance plans, Medicare, and Medicaid were more limited, and enrollees are generally satisfied with those coverage options. The problems with the nongroup market, though significant, are fixable, and correcting them does not necessitate disruption of coverage for the remaining 94% of the population. (Linda J. Blumberg and John Holahan, 10/18)

The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Using Medicare Prices — Toward Equity And Affordability In The ACA Marketplace
As the U.S. Congress debates the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the public has increasingly called for bipartisan solutions on health care reform. An immediate challenge is stabilizing the ACA marketplace, where 10.3 million people enroll in coverage. Given that certain areas of the country have few insurers participating in the marketplace — because of high enrollee costs, uncertainty over cost-sharing–reduction payments from the federal government, and the expiration of protections for insurers such as reinsurance and risk corridors (which limit how much they can gain or lose through risk sharing) — policies that encourage insurers to enter and stay in the marketplace are needed. (Zirui Song, 10/18)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.